WAR STORM (Red Queen 4// Alternate Version)

Chapter 51

Mare

"They're coming," Davidson says, pouring over the spread of papers on the table in the glass meeting room. "Our scouts spotted them last night, barely ten miles past the edges of the city."

The Lakelanders. The thought of waging another war so soon sends chills. "How did they manage to get so close before anybody saw them? And how are they here at all? How did they find out?" My questions are too many and too fast.

The Premier's throat wobbles, showing rare distraught. The scouts saw them yesterday, right before night hit, hidden poorly beneath the cover of barren trees. There must have been dozens of thousands of them, enough to at least cover every one of our men three to one. But something tells me that the fact they were so easy to spot was intentional; that they want us to know they're here, prepared to bleed every Red dry if it means getting Iris back. The only piece of leverage we'll have if our reinforcements don't arrive on time.

"The Lakelander army consists only of Silvers, but don't discount them for that. They have means of getting around unnoticed, too. But the tunnels don't exist anymore, besides for the ones directly under the palace and the buildings nearby. They won't be getting into the city until the force field falls. As for how they know... I wouldn't say it matters. The lockdown was only a bandage for an infected wound. Anybody from any city in Norta could have been out of the field boundaries when it went up, and then they would have run to the Lakelander Queen for help. Not to mention any cities too small for us to have noticed in the first place wouldn't have gotten contained."

I look up from the map Davidson's neatly laid out on the table to see all my loyal compatriots; those who plan on fighting until the end. If the Lakelanders cannot break Davidson's shield, they'll siege us until we surrender. Until this was all an unsuccessful coup in history that the Silvers will be sure to erase. We killed a few of their leaders, ruled Archeon and Norta for ten days-

Tyton's hand gently clasps around my own, and I have to stop myself from pulling back. He knows something's wrong, I can feel it in my bones. I've told him so many things that I can hardly remember anymore. That I'm tired when he wants to kiss me. That I was having a nightmare, and that's why I'm still awake when he wakes from dreams of his own. That I was down in the dungeons when Maven dropped that clue about Farley torturing them because I wanted to see Iris, but was too scared to talk to her.

"When are the reinforcements coming?" Ella asks, her face grave. Even in battle, Ella's never worried, never tired. Now...

"The first legions of them should be here by midnight," Davidson says, rolling up the map. "Even if the Lakelanders broke through my shield in fifteen minutes, we would be able to hold them off until reinforcements arrive. And I promise those legions contain some interesting Newbloods within them."

"Any Whispers?" Julian asks, another gaunt face. But unlike the rest of us who suffer from restlessness, he doesn't wear facades or powders to hide it.

We don't hide Farley's identity anymore. Aside from Davidson, the other Electricons, and Julian, the nameless Command officers listen to us in the shadows, along with other curious Newbloods. Here, Command is silent, as if they don't want us to know what they sound like. Only with Davidson in his most secret of meetings do they speak. Farley used to be part of Command.

Julian, more than anybody else believed in Farley. The thought makes my stomach heave over itself. He trained her in Tiraxes, and continued to work with her up until a week ago. And I thought you were getting better, Davidson said. I shouldn't have been down there, having succumbed to some stupid, weak urge to hear their voices, to torture myself over the decisions I've made. But then I heard what Maven said, after sitting there for hours. I sure as hell wouldn't have unleashed that Whisper on us.